Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. His 1924 film Greed is considered one of the finest and most important films ever made. After clashes with Hollywood studio bosses over budget and workers' rights problems, Stroheim found it difficult to find work as a director and subsequently became a well-respected character actor, particularly in French cinema.
Merian Caldwell Cooper was an American filmmaker, actor, and producer, as well as a former aviator who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and Polish Air Force. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie King Kong, and he is credited as co-inventor of the Cinerama film projection process. He was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1952 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Before entering the movie business, Cooper had a distinguished career as the founder of the Kościuszko Squadron during the Polish–Soviet War and was a Soviet prisoner of war for a time. He got his start in with film as part of the Explorers Club, traveling the world and documenting adventures. He was a member of the board of directors of Pan American Airways, but his love of film took priority. During his film career, he worked for companies such as Pioneer Pictures, RKO Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1925, he and Ernest B. Schoedsack went to Iran and made Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, a documentary about the Bakhtiari people.
Body and Soul (1931) is an American Pre-Code action drama film directed by Alfred Santell and starring Charles Farrell, Elissa Landi, Humphrey Bogart, and Myrna Loy. The story, adapted from the stage play Squadrons by Elliott White Springs and A.E. Thomas, depicts Royal Air Force pilots in World War I.
The Airmail Mystery is a 1932 Universal pre-Code movie serial directed by Ray Taylor, written by Ella O'Neill, starring James Flavin and Wheeler Oakman, and featuring Al Wilson doing the aerial stunts. The Airmail Mystery was Universal's first aviation serial that set the pattern for the aviation serials and feature films to follow. The film also marks the film debut of James Flavin. The Airmail Mystery is considered a lost film.
Men of the Sky is a 1931 all-talking American pre-Code musical drama film, directed by Albert E. Green which was produced by Warner Bros. in 1930 and released in 1931. Men of the Sky stars Irene Delroy and Jack Whiting. Although aircraft were seen in the film, Men of the Sky was more of a spy drama.
Von Richthofen and Brown, alternatively titled The Red Baron, is a 1971 war film directed by Roger Corman and starring John Phillip Law and Don Stroud as Manfred von Richthofen and Roy Brown. Although names of real people are used and embedded in basic historic facts, the story by Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington makes no claim to be historically accurate, and in fact is largely fictional.
George Archainbaud was a French-American film and television director.
Won in the Clouds is a 1928 American silent film directed by Bruce M. Mitchell and starring Al Wilson.
Mariners of the Sky is a 1936 American comedy-drama film directed and produced by Nate Watt, in his directorial debut. The film stars William Gargan, Claire Dodd and Douglas Fowley. Filmed with the cooperation of the U.S. Navy, it was a mild recruiting film in an era when the United States military was gearing up for a future war.
The Aviator is a 1929 American Pre-Code Vitaphone comedy film produced and released by Warner Bros. Directed by Roy Del Ruth, the film was based on the play of the same name by James Montgomery and stars Edward Everett Horton and Patsy Ruth Miller. The Aviator is similar to the silent comedy The Hottentot (1922), where a hapless individual has to pretend to be a famous steeplehorse jockey. The Aviator today is considered a lost film.
Lilac Time is a 1928 American sound romantic war film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper.This film was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the Vitaphone sound system. The film is about young American aviators fighting for Britain during World War I who are billeted in a field next to a farmhouse in France. The daughter who lives on the farm meets one of the new aviators who is attracted to her. As the flyers head off on a mission, the young aviator promises to return to her.
Ace of Aces, also known as Bird of Prey, is a 1933 American pre-Code war film based on the story "The Bird of Prey" by World War I pilot John Monk Saunders that explores how war can turn a man's moral compass from pacifism to warmonger. Starring Richard Dix, it was similar to many of the period films that appeared to glorify the "knights of the air", but was more complex, examining the motivations of those who choose to go to war.
Flying Devils is a 1933 American Pre-Code action film dealing with aviation. The film was directed by former Hollywood agent Russell Birdwell and photographed by film noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. The screenplay was written by Byron Morgan and Louis Stevens, based on an original story by Stevens. In an unusual move, Bruce Cabot was the star, with perennial "good guy" Ralph Bellamy playing the villain in a love triangle involving Arline Judge and Eric Linden. Although considered a "B" feature, audiences enjoyed the aerial scenes, which helped elevate the feature to a minor box-office hit.
The Skywayman is a 1920 American silent action drama film directed by James P. Hogan and produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation. The film starred noted aerial stunt pilot Ormer Locklear and Louise Lovely. After having appeared in The Great Air Robbery (1919), a film that showcased his aerial talents, Locklear, considered the foremost "aviation stunt man in the world", was reluctant to return to the air show circuit. During the production, Locklear and his co-pilot Milton "Skeets" Elliot died after crashing during a night scene. The Skywayman was subsequently released shortly after, capitalizing on their deaths.
Sky Bride is a 78-minute 1932 drama film, produced by Paramount Pictures and directed by Stephen Roberts. The film stars Richard Arlen, Jack Oakie and Virginia Bruce. Sky Bride depicts the life of barnstorming pilots flying in the years following World War I. All over North America, skilled pilots, many of them veterans of the aerial combat of World War I, plied their trade on the barnstorming circuit of the 1920s in small towns where impromptu air shows were staged.
Crimson Romance is a 1934 American drama film directed by David Howard and written by Milton Krims and Doris Schroeder. The film stars Ben Lyon, Sari Maritza, Erich von Stroheim, James Bush, William Bakewell and Hardie Albright. The low-budget project utilized footage from Hell's Angels (1930) and was released on October 12, 1934, by Mascot Pictures.
Frank Clarke was a Hollywood stunt pilot, actor, and military officer. His most prominent role was as Leutnant von Bruen in the 1930 production Hell's Angels, but he flew for the camera and performed stunts in more than a dozen films in the 1930s and 1940s. Clarke was killed in an aircraft crash near Isabella, California, in 1948.
Legion of Lost Flyers is a 1939 American B movie drama film directed by Christy Cabanne. It stars Richard Arlen, Andy Devine, and Anne Nagel. Legion of Lost Flyers was released by Universal Pictures on November 3, 1939.
The Lone Eagle is a 1927 American silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson, based on the story by Emilie Johnson, and starring Raymond Keane, Barbara Kent and Nigel Barrie. It was released by Universal Pictures on September 18, 1927.
The Broken Wing is a 1923 American silent aviation comedy drama film directed by Tom Forman based on the play The Broken Wing by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard. The film stars Kenneth Harlan, Miriam Cooper, and Walter Long. The Broken Wing was released on August 19, 1923..
